Tron Kirk before the South Bridge was opened

Category

Library Item

Item no

1039

Title

Tron Kirk before the South Bridge was opened

Description

The Tron Kirk, with its gothic and classical architectural elements, on the Royal Mile, Edinburgh. People enter through a monumental round arched doorway, which is situated between round arched tracery windows with a tall clocktower above. In the street below people are riding in horses and carriages or walking past the arcades. On the rooftop, two people have climbed up the chimney.

Artist / maker

Skene, James

Date

1827

Size

25 x 19 cm.

Type

Watercolour

Location

Edinburgh and Scottish Collection

The Tron Kirk was was designed by John Mylne and was completed in 1647. It takes its name from the public weighing machine that stood in a nearby street in the seventeenth century. The Church lost its tower in the Great Fire of 1824 but this was replaced by a taller spire in 1828. Visitors to the Kirk can now view the remains of a sixteenth-century street discovered below the building in 1974. Since 1952 the building has been owned by City of Edinburgh Council and it is currently used as a visitor centre.

South Bridge runs from the High Street towards the Southside of Edinburgh crossing over the steep gully in which the Cowgate is situated. It is a nineteen arch viaduct, although only the one arch through which the Cowgate passes is visible. Designed by architect Robert Kay, it was completed in 1788. Skene's painting could not, therefore, have been taken from life. The bridge was widened in 1929.

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Related subjects

Places > Edinburgh areas > Old Town

Places > Edinburgh areas > Royal Mile

Places > Scotland > Edinburgh

Religion > Religious facilities > Protestant churches

Transport > Land > Carriages

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